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Macropores resulting from soil pedogenesis, biological activity, and agricultural practices play important roles in soil water, chemical and gas transport; however, seldom studies focus on the effect of soil macropores on CO2 behavior. In this study, a 150-day soil column incubation experiment was conducted to investigate the CO2 behavior in a homogeneous soil column and a soil column with an artificial macropore, which have the same total porosity. The results showed that the cumulative CO2 fluxes observed in the soil with a macropore (57.2 g m−2) were higher than those in the homogeneous soil (52.7 g m−2). The soil cumulative CO2 fluxes measured using column incubation can fit the kinetic model, and a higher carbon mineralization rate in the soil with the macropore was found. The results of the incubation experiment also suggest that macropore increased the gas diffusivities, and thus decreased the CO2 concentrations in the soil profile. This study proposed a simulation experiment and quantified the effect of macropore on soil CO2 behavior, which could help to understand the mechanism of CO2 emission from soil with macropores especially caused by agricultural practices.

Agricultural management plays an important role in the storage of carbon in soils. The behavior of soil CO2 in an Andisol in two different tillage systems (no tillage and tillage) was studied. Soil-column incubation experiments were performed for a period of 150 days to conduct this study. Soil CO2 flux, under no-tillage and tillage treatments, was observed to be 0.557 and 0.616 gCO2-C m−2 d−1, respectively. The cumulative CO2 flux under tillage treatment was observed to be higher than that under no-tillage treatment, but no distinct difference in the soil carbon stock was observed between both treatments. The soil CO2 concentration under no-tillage treatment was clearly much higher than that under tillage treatment, except at a depth of 2.5 cm. Tillage decreased soil dry bulk density and enhanced soil air-filled porosity. Soil gas diffusivity, which depends on air-filled porosity, was increased by tillage at a depth of 0–15 cm, which contributed to their lower soil CO2 concentration. CO2 flux through the soil profile, calculated from the CO2 concentration, decreased with depth. Compared to the deep soils, the surface soil (0–5 cm) showed greater variation in CO2 flux. The CO2 production at depths of 0–10 cm accounted for 62.2 and 51.7 % of the whole CO2 production of the 0–30-cm soil profile for no-tillage and tillage treatments. CO2 production was higher for soil under no tillage at depths of 0–10 cm, but contrary results were observed for soil at depths of 10–30 cm.

Rising saline shallow groundwater and associated soil salinization problems are widespread especially in arid and semiarid areas. There have been numerous studies on groundwater-associated salinity, but more information is required on the effects of groundwater frequent and high fluctuations on soil salinization. In the present study, laboratory experiments and numerical simulations using HYDRUS-1D model were carried out for this purpose. The experimental and modeling results showed that groundwater fluctuation caused not only the accumulation of more salt in the soil profile compared to stable groundwater, but also an enhancement of the mechanism. Water table fluctuation induced a much greater spreading of the bromide (Br) tracer within the column than the constant water table. The Br content was on average five orders of magnitude greater under a fluctuating water table than under a constant one. Further, the numerical simulations showed that an increase in the groundwater fluctuation frequency brought about an increase in soil surface salinization under the same evaporation boundary conditions. Additional simulations with HYDRUS-1D were used to study the effects of various management strategies on soil salinization induced by shallow groundwater. Hence, by reducing the evaporation rate through the application of surface mulching, a significant reduction of salt concentration at the soil surface was observed. Moreover, frequent irrigations with small quantities were effective to reduce soil surface salt accumulation induced by saline shallow groundwater.